Tuesday, Sep 20, 2005 at 21:19
Hi Glowplugs,
The intent was not to prey on anyone but to tell a true story. One hope was it may be a talking point so that when people who do know better are talking to others who may not know better that they could use this as an example of how easy it is for fools to do so much damage.
Grass and bush fires may be a fact of life in Northern Australia, it doesn't mean they are a good fact of life. There is a HUGE difference between an early cool burn which is normally self controlling and the hot wildfire that is happening now.
So please don't lump them together by just saying grass and bush fires are a fact of life.
By the time the lightening strikes happen the rain is normally right with or behind the fires lit in this manner, not good but mostly they don't get a chance to burn for very long.
Have you any idea how hard it is to do successful cool early burns. The main thing they depend upon is dead litter on the ground and in between the new growth from the last wet season. Needs two wet seasons of growth, one old and dead under the new seasons growth. The only way this is there is if the area wasn't burnt during prior dry season.
Hence a rotation is required, preferably at least two years or even three years.
This is what we try to do but every year someone (not always campers ) light a fire at the wrong time and burn late in the year.
I take exception to your comments that our lack of precautions and early burns has resulted in this disaster. You have no idea what we did or didn’t do and the reasons behind any such decisions. It is not easy to do it right.
The reason more early burns were not put in this last April / May when they should probably have been, were many fold.
(1) Two different fires one from the North and one from the South cooked us at this same time last last year, hence only one wet season of new growth was available to burn. Where we had 2 years growth we did burn.
If we could get rid of all outside interference with burning, we would be able to have a planed program we would be able to get a rotation going that would work right.
(2) As already stated most of us got half our average rainfall.
Double effect. (A) Not as much grass as there should have been= shortage of cattle feed and definatly not sufficient fuel anyway to carry an early fire at the correct time.
(B) At no stage here did the ground actually get waterlogged . Little shower, few days dey, little shower. The ground was so blasted dry that by the time the one years growth was dead enough to carry a fire we were not at all sure it wouldn't burn more than we wished it to do. Neighbours do tend to get upset when a fire deliberately lit by your friends next door doesn't stop and takes them out as
well.
It is so frustrating, all the country burning now was burnt by wild fire late last year The answer to stop disasters like this isn’t to criticise the lack of early break burns, it is to control who lights the wild late fires.
VERY easy to be wise in hindsight and say wish we had taken that risk and simply burnt when we knew it was risky. As it has now turned out we should have said stuff the risk and just done it anyway, working on the principal that if we don’t do it then someone else will at an even worse time, as is now happening.
A pretty defeatest attitude.
We did try, these early burns which do act as later fire breaks are very important, it’s just not quite as simple as it sounds.
Yes we are now paying for trying to do the right thing by the country back in April / May.
The thought at the time was if we can just save it for April 06 it will burn as it should cool, slow and controllable and possibly stop further problems happening about Oct 06.
All we need is a couple of years when it is not burnt by someone else so we can get a rotation going.
The intent was never to threaten anyone, it was to make clear a fact that regretfully so many people don't know. Just because the land isn't fenced doesn't mean it isn't someone's place. Yes it is normally up North it's a lease not freehold but that lease gives us all the same rights as when you lease a block in the centre of a town.
How would you feel if you had a place for which you paid rent and rates and someone came along and burnt it clean.
No threat intended, I can't control what all the others do on their
places. I don’t control them but I know what some are starting to say.
It was simply a fact, control by leaseholders can happen and in MY opinion only, will happen if idiots continually abuse things. I simply told a home truth which some people who think they have an automatic right to
camp anywhere may not like.
Bottom line, no one has any right at all to
camp off the road along
creek banks etc, all should in fact have prior land holders permission. At present a lot of landholders simply chose to turn a blind eye but you are in fact
camping on someone else's place, without their permission.
Over 30,000 people free camped along the
Gibb River &
Kalumburu Roads last year. They chewed up the
creek banks driving on them, they made new tracks (on someone elses place ) into the bush trying to find that ' private ' spot. They interfered with cattle getting to the
water, they left rubbish, they didn't bury their poo & paper, they left fires burning, they carelessly carried nasty weeds from the
free camp to the next stations land. They even shot things.
As more & more come the push in off the road gets further & further each year.
Honestly, what do you think the end result of this abuse is likely to be !
It is not as you say ONE groups stupidity, it is many’s stupidity, this normally happens EVERY year, often several times a year. Most of the time we manage to put it out, mainly because if started in a controlled
camp ground we or others get to see it in time.
As you said, once it gets going due to the terrain ect it is often beyond control
As already said ( like it or not ) the few could spoil it for the many - regretfully !
I also happen to love
bush camping with a
camp fire,
camping’s sort of not the same without one.
Anne .
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